her own drab colouring

At middle age the hair is usually graying or at any rate has lost much of its life and luster. The skin loses its clearness and it apt to become dull and sallow. The older woman  may react to these changes by choosing colours that are so dull that they only serve to call attention to her own drab colouring.  

Hopkins, Marguerite Stotts. Dress Design and Selection. 1935 . New York. The Macmillan Co. p.76